Although Merthic preoccupied my attention, I did not neglect to pay attention to the others.

The other humanoid was a man with pale skin who looked as if sunlight would set him alight if it ever touched him. His skin was wrinkly, and his hair was thinning. Neither trait did him any favors when combined with the oily texture his clothes possessed. In his left hand was a plain stick, bent and twisted in various directions at the top.

The first centaurian creation looked as if his lower half was a lion. Every movement felt as if he was a hair trigger away from pouncing on whatever was closest, and at that moment, that was me. He had no weapon other than metal gauntlets hanging from his waist with three blades coming from the knuckles. I doubted he needed them, not when the muscles on his human half looked strong enough to crush boulders.

The last individual had the lower half of a lizard with short, stubby legs. Unlike those of a dragon, hers did not have a hardness to them. They were soft and would give if pressed. She also lacked claws that could rip flesh, and her tail, while large and nearly twice the size of her body, looked as if it could do little more than push things around. As if to overcompensate for these misgivings, she had a massive club made from a sturdy branch with scrap metal jammed in wherever it could fit.

When she noticed I was looking at it, she hoisted it up onto her shoulder as if to show off.

“Now, now Guinevere, there is no need for this,” Gehenna reasoned, taking a step closer to me.

In response, I directed an icicle toward her.

“You don’t work for Master Harok, do you?” I asked as some of her odd behaviors started making sense.

“There’s no need for all this “Master” nonsense. Just call him how he is, child. Harok. Not master, not lord.”

“You don’t work for him, do you?” I repeated.

“Of course I do. How else would I get here? Do you believe I can sneak past a dragon? Even for a child’s imagination, that’s a stretch,” Gehenna reasoned.

“So that’s how she got here,” I scowled, gesturing with my eyes to Merthic.

“I hope you do not think bitter of me for saying this, but I do not trust you enough to tell you how we got here,” the lion centaur piped up.

“So are you still trying to convince me to join you?” I asked, turning my attention back to Merthic.

“Of course. You’re a smart girl, and after your little meeting with the Council, I think you can see why we oppose The Nest,” Merthic answered.

“And you’re not angry about her death?” I shot back.

Merthic’s face was quick to sour, and though she tried to hide it, her fist clenched. For a moment I thought she would say something about it, but the lizard woman cut her off when she stepped in between us.

“Gehenna told us about the mission the Council wants you to partake in. Even the foolish dragons see the potential problems Europe can create and the holes it will create in the screen they have spent so long maintaining. This is the weakest their hold will ever be, and with your help, we can break it once and for all,” she explained.

“You want me to let things slip through?” I asked.

“A simple task is all it will take to reshape history forever. All it will take you to bring about a magic revolution is to do nothing,” she affirmed.

I was not sure how to respond to her offer. There was no way I was going to listen to a thing they had to say, much less follow them, but denying them opened a door I was not sure what was behind. Merthic was yet to unclench her fist, and the lizard woman had her club resting on her shoulder in a way I no longer saw as presenting it. It wouldn’t take much for her to bring it down on my skull.

I wasn’t sure what to think about the rest. The old man and the lion centaur looked disinterested in the situation and did nothing when I pointed my magic at them. Gehenna was an ever greater mystery, as she was smiling, yet the grip on her spear made me think she was ready to use it at a moment’s notice.

I did not believe for a second that I could fight all of them at once, not in a confined space or against so many. I wasn’t even sure I could have dealt with one of them in ideal conditions.

I need to run, I decided, though the prospect of such a thing wasn’t good either.

With the exception of the Winter Witch and the elf, I was confident I was more agile in the tight cave, but the problem with fleeing was the very elf I couldn’t outrun. Whether on purpose or by happenstance, Gehenna stood at the entrance of the tunnel.

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“I don’t believe there is a need for these,” the old man said, dust leaving his mouth with his words.

Waving his staff at me, my control over the icicles melted just as the ice did, and the water fell into the puddles. In doing so, the glow they produced increased before dying off.

“Do not think that if you refuse us, you can stop us. There are plenty of others we can tempt—those who are more ambitious than you. We will find someone who will work with us, one way or another. All refusing us would accomplish is removing what little value you have to us,” he continued.

“We are not bringing harm to the child Ligram,” the lion centaur warned, his voice lacking much emotion. Despite this lack, there was a threatening undertone within his words, and the way he shifted his body towards the old man made his intentions clear.

“Then are we going to let her go free? We have made our intentions clear and have revealed the elf to be a mole. Are we just going to let her blow her cover? And the witch has yet to explain why she wants her specifically. Any child would have done, so why go after the one with a grudge?” the man shot back.

“If Merthic believes she is the best choice, then she is the best choice. Do not think your assistance is required for our goals. If we must, we will remove you from the Order.”

“I would like to see you-”

Before Ligram could finish, Merthic slammed her hand against the wall, causing the room to shake. Though his open mouth suggested he wanted to say more, the old man fell silent.

“Because of her "grudge,” she is the perfect one to join us,” the witch said. “Who would think she would be the one responsible for it?”

To her reasoning, Ligram had no response, and whatever protest he once had disappeared.

“Guinevere, I know we have had disagreements in the past, but I know you can see what I can see. Do you actually believe that a single species, that dragons, should be the ones deciding who can use magic and who can’t? Why should they? You have seen the squalor your serfs live in. Do you know how many people don’t even make it to half a century, or how many die as mere children? All of that suffering could be prevented and a thing of the past if you accept our offer,” Merthic explained.

“You don’t know me,” I replied, trying to create more icicles. “Your story of why humans were banned from magic is a lie. All you will accomplish is chaos and mayhem.”

"No, no, little girl. I told you there was no need for those,” Ligram repeated, pointing his staff at me to dispel my ice before I could do anything with it.

“Are you just blind? Can you not see what The Nest is doing—how keeping humans from magic is causing them to suffer? You can see it before you with your own two eyes, and you do nothing about it? Why? How can you stand by and do nothing?” the witch exploded, reaching down and grabbing me by the throat.

With strength unbefitting of a woman as old as she was, she lifted me up and slammed me against the wall. Before my brain could process that it hurt, my vision blurred, and my ears rang. I could see her mouth move and feel the vibrations of her voice, but I could not hear what she was saying.

Despite my dislike of Gehenna after she led me into a trap, I was grateful when I saw her, as well as the lion man, step in and force Merthic to drop me. As my vision and hearing returned to normal, I paid no mind to what the three of them were arguing about, and I wouldn’t have even if I could understand what language they were speaking.

Instead, I pushed my hands into the water, looking for the deepest point. Once I found it—a depth that submerged my wrists—I concentrated my magic to create as much water as I could. Torrents shot from my hands, throwing the glowing water into the air. As with the water from my icicles, the water I created caused the illumination to intensify, increasing to an extent that made it hard to see.

I wasted no time taking off toward the exit in a run. The moment I entered the tunnel and it narrowed, I spun around and froze the passageway shut in a solid block of ice before taking off again.

It did not take me long to find myself in the city, and while it was tempting to go to one of the citizens for help, I did not want to risk them being with the Ordelia Order. I doubted whether what Gehenna told me about the teleportation rooms was true, and I doubted whether the citizens were a part of The Nest or the Order. Much to my dismay, I was unwilling to risk it being the latter. I couldn't believe a city would have such a small population otherwise.

I found it tempting to call out for Daphne, Harok, or anyone listening, but I held my tongue when I realized what doing so would result in. A simple ice barrier would hold none of them back for long, and it would not have surprised me if they were already out.

“Just get to where you can see the tree and work it from there,” I told myself, pushing myself to run faster at the sight of my destination.

Due to my constant use of magic over the past four years, my Aura had grown far beyond what I once had when I first started. It nearly quadrupled in size, and I could notice the difference. While I couldn’t outrun horses or overpower oxen, I could beat a normal adult in any category.

My increased physical abilities allowed me to make it halfway to the tree in a matter of minutes, but even with my speed, I couldn’t outrun my pursuers. Right as I was about to cross an intersection, a blur of an object flew past my head, landing in front of me. It was an enormous boulder that cut off all my paths as the rock took up the entire crossing.

Spinning around to a sight I knew I would see, I groaned as my prediction came true. Not everyone in the cave was present, which was better than what I hoped for, but the lizard woman, Gehenna, and Ligram were not much better.

“Did you really think ice would stop us?” the lizard woman asked, pointing her club at me.

“Now, now, Gor, she did quite well, all things considered. Not many would think to use the glow water the way she did, even if it didn’t help her as much as she would have liked,” Gehenna reasoned. “Guinevere, I think it would be in your best interest to come back with us.”

To answer her, I clapped my hands together, causing swords of ice to form behind me. I knew it wouldn’t amount to much; Ligram could destroy them with a wave of his staff, yet it was the only thing I could think of. Going with the Order would result in my kidnapping in the best-case scenario and my death at worst.

The elf let out a sigh at my defiance, saying, “I suppose we will have to use force.”

Jerking her head toward me, the lizard woman raised her club above her head and pounced.